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Friday, June 18, 2010

The Mystery of the sons of God Part 2 A – were they angels?

Civilizations predating Adam have existed upon earth and beyond for a lot longer than a mere 6000 years that some Biblical scholars claim is the age of the earth. Researchers such as Erich von Dänikenand others have compiled reams of evidence to prove the existence of intelligent humanity dating back thousands, if not millions of years. Not only that but there are innumerable accounts of mankind interacting with other worldly humans as well as other intelligent creatures, know called aliens, but historically called demons or devils. In the mythologies and legends of almost all ancient civilizations and aboriginal peoples there are to be found stories of ‘gods’ that were human in every respect descending from the skies, or rising out of the waters to interact with native populations, never in a benevolent way I might add. I must qualify that human interaction with seemingly other worldly beings has not been limited to evil creatures only. Biblically speaking, beginning with the first modern man Adam, man has had interaction with both His creator Jehovah God, and with the angels of God. However the vast majority of reported contacts of mankind with non human intelligences have been with creatures of dubious morality, not with God or with His angels.

Man’s first contact with a non Adamic intelligence other than God was with the serpent in Genesis, chapter 3. After that fateful first meeting man came in contact with another species of intelligent creatures identified in the Bible as giants, the Hebrew word for which is Nephilim. Genesis 6:4 tells us the giants or Nephilim were in the earth in those days, we do not know where they came from; just that they were here. Afterwards Adam and his children came in contact with a mysterious race of beings called the ‘sons of God’. Though many scholars claim that the giants or the Nephilim were the offspring of the ‘sons of God’, a careful parsing of Genesis 6:4 reveals that the giants or the Nephilim were in the earth before the ‘sons of God’, so they could not possibly have been their offspring. Please read my article on the Nephilim for more information on this subject. The identity of the ‘sons of God’ has been a controversial subject for many millennia now and it is a common view these days that they were angelic beings, of the race of fallen angels who sinned against God. This interpretation is not supported by scripture and to prove as much I will do a careful analysis of scriptures that form the basis of such hypotheses. It is my understanding that the ‘sons of God’ are a race of humans but not of the race of Adam. In order to prove this contention I will carefully analyse scriptures from both the Old and the New Testament that reveal that corporeal humans have existed in the Universe since the beginning of Creation. These creatures like Adam and his race are also called ‘men’ in the Bible, and it is some of these men who came to Earth in the days before the flood of Noah.

‘SONS’ OF GOD WERE NOT ANGELS

Though it is common these days to identify the ‘sons of God’ of Genesis, chapter 6 as fallen angels; this interpretation is not supported by scripture. It is important to understand the nature of both angels and ‘sons of God’ so that we can understand that they are not the same creatures and also that they were created for different purposes and hold different positions. The reason that people believe the ‘sons of God’ to be angels is because they do not fully understand the nature of angels. The following are a few facts about angels that differentiate them from mankind, from corporeal beings in general. Understanding these facts will make it obvious that angels and men are not of the same species, and are therefore not driven by the same passions, lusts or desires. First of all angels are not fat little babies with wings or effeminate little men with wings, they are powerful creatures made out of energy. They are literally fiery electric beings, far greater in power and might than man. In His creation, God has assigned specific titles and positions to various creatures. It is important to understand that these positions and titles are not interchangeable between creatures of different species, who occupy different levels in God’s hierarchy. As we study the nature of angels, it also becomes important to understand the position assigned by God to them in His hierarchy. Angels are not ‘sons’ as is confirmed by the following scripture:

·Hebrews 1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? This important scripture teaches us that the position that angels hold in the hierarchy established by God is not that of ‘Sonship’; they are not the sons of God. They are not the heirs of God’s Kingdom which has been reserved since the beginning for the ‘begotten sons of God’. So if angels are not ‘sons’ or heirs, what is their position? This question is answered in the same book of Hebrews in the following verse:

·Hebrews 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. This scripture tells us that angels are spirit beings (not corporeal, not flesh and blood beings); and that they are ‘ministers’ of God. The word ‘Minister’ in this scripture means ‘Servant’, so angels are servants of God, they are not his family. Therefore they cannot be assigned the position or title of ‘sons’ which God has not given to them. So identifying angels as ‘sons’ elevates them to a position that is not rightfully theirs. This is the reason why the writer of the book of Hebrews emphasized the fact that no angel has at any time being called ‘son’ by God. In the Bible there are no errors so if we are told that no angel has ever been called ‘son’ by God then the ‘sons of God’ could not have been angels, fallen or not. As a matter of fact if the holy angels are not sons then the possibility that fallen angels could have been called sons is even more remote. We learn more about the nature of angels from the following scriptures:

·2 Peter 2:11tells us that angels are greater in power and might than man… Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

·Psalm 8:5tells us that man was made lower than the angels. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

What we learn from the above scriptures is that angels are a different species or a different kind of creature than man; much as a monkey is a different species or different kind than man. This fact about angels and man not being the same species is important to understand in light of the Biblical principle of reproduction by ‘kind’. Each kind or each species brings forth their own kind, not another kind, and two different species mating with each other cannot produce offspring, at least not in the natural course of events. When God created the original species or kind, He built safeguards into their seed so that one seed would not mingle with another in violation of His principle of reproduction by kind only. It is true that at some time in the ancient past, the ‘seed’ of individual species were tinkered with, were genetically manipulated to produce hybrid creatures, a blend of two or more species. However cross – species breeding is not possible merely through sex between two different species. Thus angels and man, being two different species could not produce offspring even if they could mate with each other. The only way this could have happened is in a laboratory through genetic splicing, in much the same way that hybrids are being created in labs today. But the Bible specifically mentions the fact that the ‘sons of God’ came in unto the daughters of men; that they had a sexual relationship with them. It is by means of this simple sexual union that the women conceived and gave birth to human offspring in exactly the same manner as has been happening since the beginning. This would tend to prove that both the male and female partner in the relationship were human, meaning the ‘sons of God’ were human not angels. This will be discussed in greater detail when we study the nature of the ‘sons of God.’

Furthermore angels are higher in position than flesh and blood man in the cosmic hierarchy, much as man is higher than monkeys in the hierarchy of species on earth. However it needs to be clarified that the begotten sons of God, the new creation in Christ are not the same species as flesh and blood mortal man (2 Corinthians 5:17). These begotten sons are the family of God whose head is the Firstbegotten Son Jesus Christ. Jesus and the rest of the family of the begotten sons of God are much higher than angels. Please listen to the series, ‘Ye shall be as gods’ for a complete understanding of ‘the new creation in Christ, the begotten sons of God.

What the above noted differences make clear is that angels are not the same ‘kind’ or the same species as man. They cannot be motivated, cannot be driven by the same lusts and passions as mankind because they are not the same species or same kind of creature as man. As a matter of fact the apostle Peterteaches us that angels are driven by spiritual desires, they seek more knowledge and understanding not carnal pleasures.

·1 Peter 1:12 “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.”

This difference between angelic desires and man’s desires, between angelic temptations and man’s temptations will prove the fallacy of the doctrines that claim that the ‘sons of God’ were fallen angels. This doctrine that the ‘sons of God’ were fallen angels is based mainly on a couple of verses of scripture from the New Testament letter of Jude.

·Jude v6: And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

·Jude v7: Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

In the above scriptures we are told in the book of Jude that the angels kept not their first estate, and in the following verse we can read that Sodom and Gomorrah gave themselves over to fornication, and went after strange flesh. The letter of Jude identifies the sins of the fallen angels, and also of Sodom and Gomorrah.

·The sin of the angels was that they left their first estate.

·The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were fornication, and going after strange flesh.

I have heard numerous teachings on the sins of the angels and almost always we are taught that the sins were the same as that of Sodom and Gomorrah, namely fornication and going after strange flesh. Before we study in detail the sins of the angels that brought judgment upon them, let’s continue to examine some of the important differences between angels and mankind. At the time of the beginning of the formation of the Universe, God created two types of worlds, celestial ones and terrestrial ones, visible ones and invisible ones as taught in 1st Corinthians, chapter 15:40, and in Colossians, chapter 1:16. Celestial worlds correspond to the spirit world, they are meant to be inhabited by spirit beings such as angels. Thus it would stand to reason that terrestrial worlds such as the Earth were created for, and meant to be inhabited by corporeal beings such as man. The Bible does indeed teach that humankind or mankind was created in the very beginning along with spirit beings such as angels. It does teach that races of man, other than that of Adam have existed in God’s creation from the very beginning of creation. Therefore it is not a Biblical doctrine that heavenly realms, meaning the realms beyond the boundaries of the Earth are the realm of angelic or spirit beings only, the heavens are inhabited by both ethereal and corporeal beings. After all the Earth itself is very much a part of the heavens, and it is inhabited by corporeal beings, so why can other Earths or other planets also not be inhabited by similar corporeal beings? In order to understand that the ‘sons of God’ are indeed a race of man, but not of Adam, we first need to prove that they are not angels.

Terrestrial worlds such as the Earth were indeed formed to be inhabited by corporeal creatures, flesh and blood creatures but their oversight or rule was given to angelic beings. Angels too have a hierarchy; there are differing ranks amongst angels, and I believe there are also different species of angelic or ethereal beings such as the Cherubim and the Seraphim. Each star system such as our solar system is ruled by powerful angels who have subordinate spirits to help them govern much as any king has advisors and ministers to help him rule his kingdom. In the order of angelic beings, the Cherubim were probably the highest and were most likely rulers over constellations and galaxies. One of these Cherubim is mentioned in Ezekiel, chapter 28, and a careful examination of that chapter reveals several facts that tell us much about the original glory of these creatures and the nature of the ‘anointed cherub’s sins. What I am trying to establish here is that when people unthinkingly claim that the sons of God were angels, they really do not understand the nature or the power or the position that angelic beings hold in God’s hierarchy of creatures. Just like man and apes are not of the same order, neither are angels and men. Just as a man and a monkey have different desires and needs, so too do angels and men. When we clearly understand what a majestic and royal position a creature like the ‘anointed cherub’ held in God’s Universe, it becomes impossible to believe that such creatures would give up their thrones and kingdoms merely for the sake of physical relations with an inferior being. Just as a man would not leave his kingdom for a monkey, neither would angels leave theirs for man. I keep repeating this fact so that it will sink in deep into the hearts and minds of readers that God is not a man, and does not think like one; similarly angels are not mankind, and therefore they too do not think like man. Just because man would act in a certain way or think in a certain way, does not mean that either God or the angels would think or act in the same way as man.

THE SINS OF LUCIFER

So what were the motivations and desires of angels that transgressed against God? Other than the sins of the ‘anointed cherub’ that are detailed in the book of the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 28, the prophet Isaiah also gives us much information on the causes of the fall of Lucifer. In this article I would like to study in detail the following verses of scripture from the book of Isaiah, chapter 14, verses 12 – 14:

·12How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

The previous scriptures list the sins of Lucifer and even a cursory glance at these verses shows that ‘fornication’, and ‘going after strange flesh’ are not be found amongst Lucifer’s iniquities. There are five sins in all that are listed by the prophet Isaiah and I would like to expound on each one to paint a clear picture of the actual transgressions recorded in the Bible not the one commonly reported one, namely sex with women.

·I will ascend into heaven. Lucifer was not planning on coming down to Earth to fornicate with women; he wanted to ascend up to Heaven, not descend down to Earth. The book of Enoch and other such documents tell us that the angels came down to Earth of their own volition, of their own free will but the Bible tells us that Lucifer was cut down to the ground because of his attempt at ascending into Heaven. He did not come down to Earth because he lusted after women; it was judgment that sent him hurtling down to the ground and into hell.

·I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.This scripture proves that these angels and angelic beings have thrones; this would prove that there are worlds out there in the heavens filled with intelligent life, is it merely angelic life or is there corporeal life as well? Lucifer I believe was a galactic ruler, possibly ruling the Milky Way galaxy; at a minimum he was a ruler of our solar system. This would mean that there were other rulers like him who also ruled solar systems, constellations and galaxies. Intoxicated by visions of power, he wanted to exalt his throne above them all the other angelic rulers. Now look at the mindset of this person; does it seem like someone that would be tempted merely by the sight of a beautiful woman. As mankind we think that all intelligent beings think like we do but in Isaiah 55:9 God tells us that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts; and it makes perfect sense since God is not a man, He is infinitely higher than man. Psalm 8:5 tells us that God angels too are higher than man; does it not then stand to reason that their thoughts are not the kind of thoughts that man thinks, they do not spend their days thinking of fleshly pleasures, and as the story of the fall of Lucifer in Isaiah 14 proves they set their sights higher, much higher, not on a creature lower than they are. Even the apostle Peter noted in 1 Peter 1:12 that angels desire to look into deep spiritual matters, they do not desire to leave their exalted positions for the sake of mortal women. No matter no how beautiful an ape may look to another ape; a human being is not going to be attracted to the ape. So no matter how attractive those flesh and blood mortal females might have been to other men, and to the ‘sons of God’, they probably all looked the same to the angels, at least from a physical perspective. The fact that the ‘sons of God’ were attracted to flesh and blood corporeal creatures is strong evidence that they too were corporeal fleshly beings not ethereal angelic creatures. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that there are temptations that are common to man, which would imply that there are temptations that are common to angels but things that tempt man are not the same things that tempt angels as the story in Isaiah proves, and as the writings of the apostle Peter prove. I hope the point has been made that the things that tempted the ‘sons of God’ were fleshly lusts, which are the temptations of lower corporeal creatures like man not those of higher ethereal beings like angels.

·I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. We do not what this mount of the congregation is but once again this is the image and mindset of a creature trying to elevate himself to the status of God not bring himself down to the level of creatures that were mere flesh and blood mortals. This is the mindset of a conqueror seeking power and glory, not that of a weak fleshly being tempted by the sight of flesh.

·I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.Countless times I have heard that the angels descended to Mount Hermon but here the Bible tells us that they wanted to ascend not descend. As a matter of fact in this account of the fall of Lucifer in Isaiah, every adjective describing Lucifer’s mindset and thought processes points to the idea of elevation, of ascent not of descent or lowering. Look at these words that describe what he was thinking and planning; I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne, I will sit upon the Mount, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Where in these scriptures do we read that he found these women so beautiful that he couldn’t live without them, and so he came down and fathered the Nephilim?These strange doctrines based on the false teaching that the sin of the angels was going after ‘strange flesh’ cannot be proved through scripture.

·I will be like the most High.Is it even possible that a person who is so weak that his temptations are merely that of the flesh could even entertain the thought of usurping the throne of the Most High God? However, if Lucifer was truly a Galactic ruler then it is not at all strange that he wanted to rise to the level of the ruler of the Universe? Such interpretations that the ‘sons of God’ who were driver very much like humans in their passions, lusts, desires and temptations were fallen angels is not at all logical. Royal ethereal beings like the Cherubim to whom God has assigned a much higher position than flesh and blood man, gave them thrones, estates, and dominions spanning the heavens could not possibly have given all that up just because they saw some ‘fair’ women. Such creatures could never have been tempted by the mere sight of women, no matter how beautiful they were.

The sin of the angels as recorded in the book of Jude in verse 6 was that they left their first estate. Many have tried to equate the word ‘Estate’ with ‘strange flesh’ but this word actually means principalities, kingdoms, dominions and rulerships. How else could Lucifer have had a throne unless God had given it to him? So the real sin of the angels was that they left their own dominions that had been given to them by God. How and why did they leave their own rulerships? The prophet Isaiah tells us that they left, as any conqueror leaves his own kingdom, to go and conquer someone else’s kingdom, namely the Kingdom of God Almighty Himself. They wanted to add to their dominions, to elevate their thrones, not to give them up for some weak creature like man that was not even of their own species. This angelic rebellion played a major role in the events of prehistory. The book of Jude and the apostle Peter tell us that they are now imprisoned in Tartarus, which is the lowest part of hell. Incidentally as previously mentioned angels are beings of fire and energy, they are not corporeal beings; therefore they cannot be held in an earthly prison. So I believe that Tartarus is some kind of force field not a prison made of brick and mortar. Interestingly enough Greek mythology tells the tale of the elder gods called the Titans who were defeated in a cosmic war and are now imprisoned in Tartarus. The story of the fall of the Titans does have some parallels with the story of Lucifer but in mythology their downfall is not attributed to God’s judgment, merely as a war between them and their offspring. Furthermore the book of Jude tells us that these angels are being held in chains of everlasting darkness until the Day of Judgment. So if they were imprisoned in the lowest hell so long ago, how could they have come up and had relations with women and fathered so many children in the times before the flood?

So Lucifer’s attempted assault upon heaven was not a minor event, it was a cosmic battle fought across the galaxy if not beyond, much like the Star Wars saga. How much time transpired between the intent to conquer heaven and the actual execution of his plans, we do not know but it stands to reason that it would take time to form alliances, to recruit other angels, and even humans to his cause, to create new technologies for warfare that did not previously exist. I believe there is a certain order in the thoughts that arose in the mind of Lucifer beginning with the first one, ‘I will ascend into heaven’, and the last one, ‘I will be like the Most High’. He would have had to go through a process of exalting his throne above that of the other angels and sitting upon the mount of the congregation etc. that are steps in the process of elevating himself to the status of God. None of these steps involve coming down to Earth and starting a family with a woman of the Earth. So when we carefully study scripture it does reveal that all of the sins of Lucifer are listed in the Bible, and not one of them is the same as the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. The judgment of the angels came because they tried to raise themselves up to be ‘like the Most High’, not lower themselves to the level of man.

SONS OF GOD ARE NOT ANGELS

I hope this understanding will make clear to readers and listeners that angels are not men, they cannot be tempted like mortal men while the sons of God were certainly tempted in very much the same way as most men are today when they see a beautiful woman. The temptations of the angels are of a much higher order because they are much higher than flesh and blood mortal man. Now in contrast to these angels, the sons of God hardly have any exploits worth mentioning unless we consider their exploits of earthly women as heaven shaking conquests. Granted their offspring were considered to be ‘heroes’ on Earth but they were ‘mighty men’ not mighty angels. They had no visions of ascending into heaven or being like the Most High; they seem to have been quite content taking as many women for themselves as they could and setting themselves up as lords over the children of Adam, not over angels or any other celestial beings.

So the only conclusion we can draw is that the angels being of much greater might and power than man, set their sights much higher than man as would be expected. But the sons of God being human fell for human temptations which are no temptations at all for angels. When comparing the Biblical facts about angels, especially beings of higher rank and order such as the Cherubim, to the sons of God, it is readily apparent that these creatures have little if anything in common. The ‘sons of God’ of Genesis 6 are nothing like the ‘anointed cherub’ of Ezekiel 28 or Lucifer of Isaiah 14. It would be reasonable to conclude that the sons of God were humans but not of Adam’s race whereas the angelic beings, even the fallen ones were of a much higher order who sought power and worship like The Most High

I believe by now I have provided enough evidence to prove beyond doubt that angels and the sons of God cannot possibly be the same kind of creatures, not in their physiology or their psychology. Furthermore the accounts of the origin of evil, and the fall of Lucifer as compared to the accounts of the sons of God in the days of Noah are records of two different ages, set apart by untold number of years, possibly in the millions. The transgression of the angels did not take place after Adam was made, it happened a long time before then. The birth and growth of evil to maturity spans several ages before Adam, please read my series on Prehistoric civilizations and listen to the audio recordings on this subject to gain a fuller understanding of this subject and also listen to the Chronology of creation series on this topic.

In the next segment I will prove that the Bible does teach that men have existed in God’s creation long before Adam. Therefore races of man, other than that of Adam were spread throughout the heavens, and may still inhabit much of the heavens to this day. I understand that this is a view not held by most of mainstream organized Christianity but that should be of no consequence if the Bible teaches otherwise. The next part will be based on a study of Genesis 1:1-2, Job 38:4-7, Jeremiah 4:23-26, Proverbs 8:22-31, and 2 Peter 3:5-7; it will surprise readers and listeners as to the depth of the information about pre Adamic civilizations that is contained in these scriptures.

1 comment:

The phrase "Sons of God" is interpreted from the Hebrew world "Elohim". Mike Heiser does a fairly good job explaining why they were Angelic in nature. Read his paper on the divine council.

Paul I am a bit lost at how you can say there were separate human beings who were around prior to the flood... and then returned from outer space to create more giants. There has been much research into the phenomenon of UFO's and alien abductions. More and more researchers conclude that these crafts are inter-dimensional. Many abducty cases exhibit the same behavior as demonic possession. Why would all of these UFO's/Aliens be so concerned with coming to earth when there are millions of galaxies and life giving planets to visit.

Personally, I would be a bit cautious in thinking that we have true physical visitors from outer space(other than angels). Not to say its impossible... but I along with many others foresee the great falling away to be staged by "Visitors from outer space". We are to expect a strong delusion that will deceive even the elect. What that delusion is, I can only guess and do my best at reading the signs that Christ foretold.